12/1/25

Today at CSUF, we had a very interesting interaction with a few different young men - some new and some familiar. We started our conversation with *Winston in a peculiar way, but it was only the beginning of what would evolve into a very complicated and intriguing scenario. In the above photo to the right, you can see our first conversation with *Winston where we oddly discussed Mary as the co-redemptress. I'm not sure what's going on, but we've had an unusual number of conversations with very passionate Catholics lately about some of their tangential traditions. I'm totally happy when Catholics are passionate about the main things surrounding Jesus and His Gospel, but I must be honest that I don't understand why these particular people we've talked with have held so strongly to these weakly supported tangential issues. I'm not sure, but either way, it's the hand we are dealt and we roll with it!

As strange as it was, when *Winston approached the whiteboard today, he didn't even come to write on the board. He literally just came up to ask us why we don't think Mary is a co-redemptress with Christ. I'm not sure how he knew I didn't believe that, but I guess it was a safe bet as the Pope has even recently rejected that doctrine as not true. We talked about this for a while, but he was very sporadic in his flow of conversation - jumping from topic to topic, though not well informed on actual Catholic teaching. Strangely enough, at one point he said that if he prayed to Saint Valentine he would be guaranteed a date within the hour - so he demonstrated, though not at our request. Our conversation was very fascinating, but initially it didn't feel to have the greatest amount of traction. *Winston was very oriented around what 'the kids' call "aura". This is essentially an image or vibe that people perceive from you. People describe certain activities as "aura-farming" if they are doing something for the sole purpose of cultivating a specific and desirable image or facade. In more familiar terms: people-pleasing.

This was the overall driving force that seemed to be present for *Winston in our multiple interactions today. He was supposed to be working to get signatures for some sort of petition but instead hung around us and "aura-farmed". He went out and got signatures at one point, but he came back later for another very interesting interaction with some other people at the whiteboard!

When he returned, we had changed locations to the Titan Walk to set up the whiteboard at one of the tables. *Winston would fall under the category of someone who "trolls" people, which essentially just means that he says crazy things to get a reaction out of people. This is often part of aura-farming as you seek to find the favor of people by being funny and enjoyable I suppose. Unbeknownst to *Winston, he is not the only person who trolls us, and *Winston was no match for our resident troll! Another student that we have had many conversations with, who is an atheist as of right now, came up and started trolling as usual; however, *Winston did not know what to do with it. Initially, it seemed that they enjoyed each other and had fun riffing off of the other's strange comments, but eventually *Winston decided that it wasn't funny and chose to be offended over and arguably minute issue. We were sort of observing this interesting and quite humorous interaction, but we were afforded a great opportunity to engage in pastoral ministry when conflict arose for *Winston. The other student who was trolling had left, likely completely unaware that *Winston was upset (as I think the offense was cultivated later on as he chose to be upset due to his pride being bruised); however, *Winston began to strongly express hatred for this other person. He stated that if he ever saw this other student again, he would punch him in the face. This was such a strange unfolding of events, but we were grateful for an opportunity to interact with *Winston in a real Christian issue that was not merely superficial. 

Earlier we had talked about how we can know if we follow Jesus or not, but now we got to see it right in front of us. *Winston was right when he previously said that following Jesus means obeying His commands, but now he was able to see that he actually has no desire to follow Jesus. So many people like to follow Jesus because they agree with Him, but that is not following Jesus - that's borrowing from Jesus when it's convenient. It's when we disagree with Jesus that we can know whether or not we actually follow Him and not just ourselves. This was that opportunity for *Winston, and it was a hard pill to swallow. I told *Winston that being a Christian means not only avoiding doing evil to our enemies, but actually doing good to them and loving them. We cannot say that we love God if we hate and hurt those made in His image. I told *Winston that he had a choice of whether or not he wanted to follow Jesus. He could reject Jesus and submit to his violent desires, or he could follow Jesus into peacemaking in humility. *Winston was not particularly happy with the options laid before him, but the truth often hurts and I'm glad we had the opportunity to actually engage with *Winston's heart.

*Winston's obsession with public appearance in his aura-farming had landed him in this position of great offense as his pride was bruised. This led him to hatred and violence against someone who he has barely engaged with. Jesus calls us into a life of humble sacrifice - imaging His own sacrifice pictured beautifully in Philippians 2. Tests are very valuable for the life of the believer as it offers us an opportunity to be assured of our devotion to Christ. It can be a great blessing or a great curse depending on how we respond to it; thankfully, God can graciously work either response toward our good, but one is certainly with less pain! To follow Christ and be made fishers of men necessarily requires us to not be aura-farmers.